Various schools of developmental psychology explain early formative experiences as the reason behind human emotional patterns, perception and behaviour. If it is true that childhood is in many ways the foundation of our lives, then we also need to take into consideration that post – natal childhood is not the beginning of life. The earliest events of incarnation, the journey of the gametes, conception, implantation, the different phases of pregancy and finally birth are dramatic, monumental experiences for consciousness in its process of associating with the evolving physical body.
Many complete metamorphic canges, from two single cells to a new life form, from an undiffirentiated mass of cells through various forms that resemble different animals all the way to a funtional human body, occur before any of the cildhood dynamics are even possible. Pre- and perinatal psychology therefore addresses the formation of our fundamental emotional patterns and trauma right here, in the earliest stages of development.

For those interested in deep emotional healing, I wholeheartedly recommend the work of Karlton Terry. Through many years of exploring pre- and perinatal life, Karlton has developed a way of guiding others in their joruney of deepest inner healing that is truly outstanding in quality and integrity.
For me personally, there are three main reasons why this work is so worthwhile to explore:

1. The Depth of Empathy

It is widely acknowledged in many branches of depth psychology that empathy or love is the ultimate ingredient in trauma healing. Therapeutic techniques can help, but we were not traumatized by a lack of technique. To the degree that complete empathy was missing in our early formative experiences,
a true need of our psyche remains unaddressed.  If a young child is traumatized through lack of emotional bonding, we know that behavioral changes, mental affirmations, techniques to unblock the energy system or anything else won’t do the trick.  Nothing can substitute for the real thing, true empathy. There is really no difference in this regard between a human being at age four or age forty.

The level and purity of empathy I have encountered in the work of Karlton Terry and Kathryn Kier, who teaches along with him, was a revelation. The idea that empathy must be the core catalyst for real healing was not new, but the degree to which this pinciple is alive in Karlton’s work was something
I had never seen before. There is a quality to these workshop that the heart recognizes and trusts.
No amount of words can do justice to this experience, but if the idea of healing through deep empathy makes sense to you, check out this work.

2. Precise Understanding

Something that is equally acknowledged as the principle of empathy is the idea that we have let our guard, our defenses down to some extend for healing to occur. However, if something in our psyche does not completely trust, then why should we let our guard down? For this trust, another element in addition to empathy is necessary, the clear sense that the person guiding us really knows what is going on and what there are doing.

Karlton brings to the table of inner healing a degree of understanding that is mind – blowing. I am not easily impressed with knowledge, but the precision and logic of understanding in Karlton’s work amazes me continuously. It is not information for information’s sake but a precise understanding of early imprinting experiences that brings great accuracy to the process of healing. This allows for a much deeper trust, because finally someone does know what’s going on.

3. Embracing Trauma without making it a new Home

To heal trauma, we need to embrace it, acknowledge it deeply and feel and consider how it has shaped us. In this process, it can easily happen that healing trauma becomes a new center of identity. Psychological processing can become an end in itself for the same pattern in consciousness that clings on to other aspects of life to confirm its being. But no aspect of relative life that is subject to change is ever the seat of our being. Something that is ivolved in becoming is not being in its essence. As someone whose deepest inclination in life is to hang out in being, exploring the depth of the Absolute beyond all becoming, deep processing work to heal trauma could sometimes seemed almost like taking on a new illusion if the context of the work demanded to practically identify with emotions and trauma. In Karlton’s work, I found a wonderful balance between acknowledging and embracing trauma and not getting stuck in the whole process. There is a trust at the core of this work that no matter what happened, our soul, our being is the larger, more powerful reality. One way how this manifests is that the process of healing is not smothered with techniques or interventions. The way of using interverntions that Karlton and Kathryn practice and teach is competely natrual and non – invasive, which allows one’s being to realize that despite trauma, we are not some kind of repair project that needs fixing.  This context allows for a balanced coexistence of our ever – free being and our relative humanness. 

For more information, go to www.karltonterry.com.